What my son taught me after a HARD day

Being a mom is not a walk in the park. Each day brings a new set of challenges and we deal the best we can. Yesterday I had a day that was just tough from wake-up to bed-time. I have been trying to get up before Noah wakes up instead of having him as my alarm clock like I usually do. It helps me start my day and although it's hard waking up early some morning it is worth the little bit of peace.

Well, yesterday I woke up early and so did Noah. It was a hard day from breakfast on. I won't go into huge detail, but lets just say there were plenty of toddler tantrums and a possible make-over on said toddler who found my makeup (insert eye-roll emoji), but by nap time (that came an hour and a half early) I was feeling defeated and honestly in tears. My toddler had whooped my butt to say the least. The baby is currently crawling and into everything and spilling daddy's coffee wherever he leaves it (totally in her reach)...ya know whatever could go wrong was, or so it felt. Funny how our bad days don't seem that bad after a nights sleep and fresh perspective.

I know these hard days especially as Noah figures out how to deal with all his toddler emotions will happen more frequently, but it is taught me something important.
Kid's give us SO much grace. Like sooo much. Have you ever stopped to think about that? Noah can have a really hard day and I don't always handle it so well. I can lose my temper and yell, which I totally hate by the way but it happens. And can I just say that yelling doesn't even phase this kid so all it does it make me look dumb. ha. It's amazing that our kids never hold a grudge from our actions.  In fact, after our especially tough day Noah asked for "twinkle twinkle" one more time and I begrudgingly went back in while holding the baby and sang to him. He reached up and rubbed my arm while I sang almost to remind me that I am doing my best.

The truth is we're all going to have rough days as mamas, but it is so important to remember to give ourselves grace as well as our kids. We can all try a little harder the next day. Remember when you are down in the trenches of motherhood, I am right there with you. Though there are hard days there will be far more great days that I am so grateful to be home for.

My goal is to continue to wake up before the kids to start my day, have more patience, talk more calmly and work thru the hard parts of the day, because at the end of the day we are the example of what behavior should look like to our kids. We are the ones they will be around most and the ones they WANT to be around! So I am going to try to be the mom I'd want to be around too practicing grace in all my relationships.